Usually there’s an obvious reason to hire someone on a part-time basis.

You need some help in a particular area and the duties can be accomplished in less than 40 hours per week.

Or your personnel budget can only handle a part-time employee.

But there might be another situation where hiring part-time help may be more appropriate than full-time.

In a number of companies, people usually wear more than one hat. The smaller the company, the more likely staff are handling a variety of duties. You may be paying a 40-hour wage to someone who is doing certain things very well, but a few not so well.

In this scenario, you might be better off finding someone on a part-time basis to take over the duties where your current employee is under-performing. If you did, ideally your current employee will be more productive as a result of having “shed” these under-performing areas.

You may also want to consider hiring someone as an independent contractor to take over these duties.

Of course if the duties in question are not significantly impacting on your bottom line, then getting someone else to take them over doesn’t make sense. But if they are key to your success, having someone proficient handling them even on a part-time basis may make a nice difference for you.

As the law varies in each area, please check with an attorney to ensure you are applying these tips within the law.